My first exposure to community prosecution was in 1996. It was the kick-off pilot project initiated by Eric Holder, then the U.S. attorney in Washington, D.C., at a police district where I was a captain. To say I was skeptical would be an understatement. The kick-off had all the trappings of the typical politically motivated event that ends up nowhere six months down the line.
I can now say, without reservation, that community prosecution works. Further, I believe that community policing can never reach its full potential without the inclusion of the prosecutor as a full partner, joining the police and neighborhood residents...

The hit new movie “Traffic” paints a devastating portrait of America’s war on drugs. Director Steven Soderbergh cuts through all of the sanctimonious cant about the drug war to pose a rebellious question: Against whom are we waging this war?
“Traffic” stars Michael Douglas as the newly appointed drug czar Robert Wakefield, whose challenge it is to reinvigorate the drug war for the president. In a private meeting with the departing drug czar, a former army general, Wakefield is taken aback by the general’s lament that years of effort have had no impact on the drug trade...